The Liberal Democrats were humiliated in Brussels after eight liberal European prime ministers and party leaders denied issuing a joint statement backing a second referendum on Brexit.
Sir Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, met the group in Brussels yesterday during the European Council summit. After the meeting, his party released what it claimed was a joint statement, in which the leaders stated that they “acknowledge and support the Liberal Democrats’ call for the British people to have the final say on the Brexit deal”.
However, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe denied agreeing to it. A spokesman said: “At the meeting, liberal leaders showed their support to the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Vince Cable. However, no statement was agreed upon or issued.”
A Liberal Democrat spokesman later claimed that the statement had been “verbally agreed” at the meeting, albeit “not signed”.
The leaders who the Lib Dems claimed had put their name to the statement included Charles Michel, the prime minister of Belgium, who had not been at the meeting. Another leader on the Lib Dem list, Miro Cerar, recently resigned as prime minister of Slovenia.
